


The Lost Son

by Thepandicorn



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:08:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24544387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thepandicorn/pseuds/Thepandicorn
Summary: Will and Nico receive a blessing from Will's father, Apollo, that gifts them with two children. Even though they were only supposed to receive one child they receive a set of twins-a boy and a girl. Life seems good and they're happy, living as normal of a life as possible being a family of demigods, which has its ups and downs. However, Will ends up going missing one day and Nico is left convinced that Will left of his own accord and changes completely, reverting back to his old self as he begins to believe once again that everyone he loves will leave him like Bianca did all those years ago.The twins, being polar opposites and rarely getting along as siblings do, are sent on a quest in order to figure out exactly what happened to Will and where he went, as they know he didn't leave by choice.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

"Dakota! Give me my sword!" Avery shouted, chasing after his sister.

"Never!" The blonde-haired girl shouted, running away from her brother with a grin.

"You're not even holding it right!" The brunet called. "You're going to hurt yourself!" Right as Avery spoke, the blonde tripped as she wasn't properly paying attention, causing the sword to slip out of its sheath and cut her arm as she dropped to the ground.

"Ow ow ow." She said as he tried to sit up, looking down at the cut on her forearm that was bleeding pretty badly.

"I told you, you would get hurt." Avery said as he dropped down next to his sister, worry flashing across his face as he saw the injury. "Should I go get Dad?"

"N-no. He'll yell at me again. Do something." She said, thrusting her arm into her brother's general direction, trying not to panic. She really didn't like seeing blood, especially her own.

"I don't know what I'm doing!" Avery said, putting his hands up in surrender as he started at his sister.

"Avery Avernus di Angelo-Solace!" Avery froze as he heard his full name, slowly turning his head towards whomever had called him. Standing outside the door was a blonde male wearing a t shirt with an open button up over the top as well as cargo shorts and a beaded necklace.

"I didn't do anything this time!" The brunette said quickly, backing away from his sister. As soon as the blonde male male saw he blood, he was quick to rush over.

"Nico! I need the first aid kit!" He shouted over his shoulder as he helped Dakota inside, forcing her to stand with her arm over the kitchen sink right as another male appeared with the first aid kit. He had black hair and dark brown eyes and was wearing black skinny jeans, a skull t-shirt, and a beaded necklace like the blonde.

"This is going to hurt." The blonde male said as he began to clean the injury with some water and rubbing alcohol, humming a tune all the while and occasionally muttering a few words along with it. Soon, the girl was patched up with minor stitches in her forearm.

"What happened this time?" Nico asked, crossing his arms as he looked down at his daughter, who looked away, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"She had Avery's sword and fell, from what I gather." The blonde said, glancing at his husband.

"I was only playing around...I didn't mean to get hurt... " She grumbled, glancing between her parents before looking back down.

"You can't be doing that sort of thing, Dakota. Avery's sword is just as much a real weapon as your bow and you're lucky this wasn't worse. If I wasn't home, what could have happened? You have to take these things seriously." Will asked, sighing a bit as he gazed down at his daughter as blue eyes met brown.

"I'm sorry, dad..." She mumbled. "It won't happen again..."

"Good. It better not. I don't want to have to patch up another injury anytime soon." Will replied before motioning for her to go. "Be careful so you don't rip your stitches." Head down, Dakota walked from the room but not without shooting a glare at her brother, who followed behind her, the usual banter between the twins ensuing as they headed upstairs.

"She's just like you." Will said, leaning back against the counter as he looked over at Nico. He reached up absentmindedly, fidgeting with his necklace a bit.

"Not even close." Nico said, rolling his eyes as he came and pressed a kiss to his husband's lips.

"She's exactly like you, being stubborn and doing stupid things. You can't tell me otherwise" Will replied, wrapping his arms around Nico's waist as he kissed back, smiling a bit into the kiss.

"You're the best thing to happen to me." Nico said quietly as he pulled back with a soft smile, gazing into those blue eyes he'd come to love. "You and the kids. I couldn't ask for anything better than this."

"Me neither. I wouldn't change anything." Will grinned.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


"Are we going to go to camp for the summer, Papa? We've still never been..." Dakota asked, really wanting to go. They'd heard about camp, but they'd never been and something or another always happened that prevented them from going-summer school on more than one occasion, work, other things as well. From what she'd been told, she was excited to go but hadn't yet.

"We'll see." Nico replied, giving his 13-year-old daughter a small hug as he glanced at Will over the top of her head with a raised eyebrow. The blonde nodded. After few seconds.

"I don't see why not. I'll still have to work though, so it'll just be you three if you do go." Will smiled a bit at his family. "Go and get dressed. You two do still have school for another two months and we don't need you being late."

When Dakota came downstairs again, she was wearing black jeans, a t-shirt patterned to look like a skeleton rib cage and the all the bones of the torso. She was also wearing her scuffed up black vans with her blonde curly hair handing loosely around her shoulders. Her smile was definitely Wills as was her hair, but her fare skin and brown eyes belonged to Nico.

"You try telling me she's not your kid dressed like that." Will whispered to Nico with a smile as he watched her finish tying her shoes on the bottom step before grabbing her backpack which was black with a dabbing skeleton on the back that had "Sorry, I'm gay." written below it in rainbow font. There were also a few pins and patches on her backpack like Green Day, My Chemical Romance, Panic at the Disco, and Fall Out Boy. She even had a pin with the lesbian flag and another patch of the lesbian flag that read "Sorry boys. Girls only." in fancy font.

A few minutes later, Avery came downstairs, dressed in a pair of cargo shorts, a pair of white converse with faded sun flowers painted along the sides, a blue t-shirt, and an unbuttoned flannel pulled over the top as well as a loose-fitting beanie pulled over his head. He grabbed his backpack, which was a pastel yellow and rather plain looking over than the few pins and patches he had, including a single music note, one of that said "I'm not judging you, I'm just shy...", another that said "Shy gang." and one that looked like a chibi little first aid kit. He even had some stitching he'd done in black embroidery thread to give it a bit of a handmade vibe even though it wasn't.

"I'll drive today. I'm headed into work anyways." Will said, grabbing the keys from Nico's hand with a smile. He was currently clad in a pair of scrubs as he was ready to head into work. "Have a surgery today and I have to be in early." He pressed a quick kiss his husband's lips before following the kids out to the car. Dakota was already seat in the front seat and Avery was in the back with a notebook perched on his lap and his headphones in. Thanks to a new chip invented by Leo and Annabeth, most demigods were now able to use some technology without having to worry about monsters tracking the signal, so both kids had their own iPods. As Will backed out of the driveway, Avery hummed along to whatever he was listening to and would occasionally scribble something in his notebook. Dakota had her headphones in and was rocking out to her music,

"I walk a lonely road, the only one that I have ever known." She sang along to her music, being somewhat loud as she enjoyed herself, but not enough to bother Will too much as he drove them to school. "Don't know where it goes but it's home to me and I walk alone." As he glanced in the rearview mirror, Will saw Avery glare at Dakota before obviously turning up his music and doing back to whatever he was doing in his notebook.

When they finally pulled up outside their school, Avery glanced up before putting his notebook away. "Bye dad." He said softly as he got out of the car, heading inside with his head down, avoiding everyone's glances his way.

"Byeee." Dakota smiled as she got from the car, pulling her headphones out as she excitedly ran over to a small group of people, grinning and talking with them about random things. 


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

The last two months of school went by in a flash for the di Angelo-Solace twins, bickering like always and fighting more than once. They rarely got along which was why their parents already had plans to separate them into the Apollo and Hades cabins when they got to camp, in order to prevent a possible argument or fight in the middle of the night. No summer school or bad grades and hopefully that would prevent them from going to camp. Excitement grew amongst the two, already in the midst of an argument about what camp would really be like as they sat at the breakfast table Saturday morning just after school got out. Will had just finished cooking breakfast for the twins and was finishing up the rest so he and Nico could eat once the other was awake. 

"I'm going to tell you this: you're both wrong." The twins looked up when they heard Nico speak, seeing he had just come downstairs. "Camp isn't anything like that." 

"Ah, come on Papa. It must be." Dakota protested before shoving another bite of food into her mouth. 

"Nope, not at all." As Nico walked over, Will turned with a smile and handed him a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast. As he sat down at the table, Nico paused to give his kids a kiss on top of the head, causing Avery to cringe slightly but he said nothing. 

"Three days." Will said as he set a mug in front of Nico before grabbing his own plate and sitting down. 

"What?" Avery glanced up, pushing his black hair from his blue eyes with a soft sigh. 

"In three days, we leave for camp. You'll get to see the wonderfulness of it in three days." 

True to their word, the twins left for camp in three days. They packed their clothes and everything they would need into their backpacks, ensuring they missed nothing important. It was exciting for them, to say the least. 

"Final check." Will said as they prepared to pack into the car for the long drive to camp. "Clothes?" The twins gestured to their bags. "Anything you want to take with?" They both showed their iPods and a few other personal items they had. "Weapons?" Dakota reached up and pulled her necklace from inside her shirt, showing off the bow and arrow charm that hung from the silver and gold chain. Avery flashed his wrist, which showed off a small bracelet he had with a sword shaped charm that ran along the back of his wrist. 

"Good. Let's go." Nico said with a soft smile as he shouldered his bag and headed out to the car. 

A six-hour drive later, with a struggle to keep the twins from fighting or being too obnoxious each other, they pulled up outside of camp. Dakota pulled out her headphones and nudged her brother, causing him to wake up as he'd fallen asleep at some point during the ride. 

"Its...an empty hill." Dakota said, looking out the window in confusion. "Are you sure we're in the right place?" She glanced back at her parents, who chuckled a bit. 

"Yes, we're sure. You'll see it when you get to the top, just past the giant pine tree." Will said as he got from the car. 

"Race you!" Dakota said to Avery, grabbing her bag as she bolted from the car and up the hill. 

"No." Avery rolled his eyes at his sister before getting out as well and slowly walking up the hill, fidgeting with the strings of his bracelet as he walked. 

"Woah..." Avery said, looking down from the top of the hill in awe as he came to a stop next to his sister. 

"Holy shit." Dakota muttered. 

"Language." Will said, but he couldn't help but laugh a little. It reminded him of how he'd reacted upon setting foot through the boarder for the first time. "Good to be home." 

"Agreed." Nico said, taking Will's hand as they followed the kids down the hill and farther into camp, where they proceeded to give them a tour before it was time for dinner. 

They showed them around pretty much everywhere, even warning them to stay out of the forest, as it was stocked with a few monsters for demigod training but that it was often dangerous to go alone or without a weapon if you didn't know where the dangerous parts were. Will showed them where the infirmary was, which was empty at the moment with no patients or healers in sight. 

"I don't like it in here..." Dakota said finally. 

"Neither did I. I only came to like it because of your dad." Nico said with a smile as he looked around the room. 

'We shared our first kiss over there." Will said, pointing to one of the cots in the corner of the large room. 

"Gross." Dakota said, curling her nose as she looked away. 

"Hey, we all do it." Will chuckled, rolling his eyes a little at his daughter. "Come on, lets go put our stuff away. It's almost time for dinner and I think there might be a capture the flag game after that." 

"That's a game from kindergarten gym class..." Avery said, raising an eyebrow as he followed his dad from the infirmary, fidgeting with his bracelet 

"Not the way we play it." Soon, the twins were settled in opposite cabins. Dakota went with Nico and as the two finished unpacking whatever they'd brought with them, they listened to music through the small stereo Will had installed a long time ago with Dakota's iPod plugged in. 

After a while, Will came into the cabin, not even bothering to knock first, with Avery trailing behind. The four of them walked to dinner together, sitting down at the Apollo table. Will explained that technically, Nico should have been at the Hades table but that no one really cared where anyone sat at anymore and that Nico had sat at the Apollo table for a while now-it would be weird to make him go sit alone again. As dinner started and the kids followed their parents to make offerings to the gods in the fire. 

"Thanks, dad. For the kids." Will murmured as he dropped some of his food in the fire. "and thanks for your son, lord Hades." Nico murmured something similar before motioning for the kids to do the same. 

"Thanks for...life, I guess." Avery muttered, dropping some of his food into the fire. 

"Thanks for the parents." Dakota whispered too quietly for anyone to hear before she plopped back down in her seat, looking around at all the tables. They all ended up meeting a few of Will's new siblings, including a blonde girl with a pixie cut by the name of Luciana "Luci" di Angelo ("Thats like our name!" Dakota had exclaimed), a set of brothers named Zax and Jay de Capo, a male by the name of Kai Thomas who revealed himself to be deaf, and another male names Matthew Jacobson. They even met a daughter of Nyx and a son of Aphrodite named Leila Amaya and Flynn Fallien who were dating Luci and Zax respectively. 

"Now I can actually talk to someone about girls!" Dakota said happily between bites of food, earning a few laughs around the table. As dinner neared an end, Chiron called attention and announced that there was a capture the flag game after dinner. 

Campers yelled and cheered as a brunette with gray eyes and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about three meters long, glistening grey, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, a tall redheaded male along with a few of whom were assumed to be his siblings ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head. 

Chiron recapped the rules, mostly for newer campers such as Dakota and Avery "'You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic." 

Teams were announced and the Athena cabin ended up being paired up with the Apollo cabin, the Hermes cabin, and the Aphrodite cabin while the Dionysus cabin, the Hephaestus cabin, and the Demeter cabin were paired up with the Ares cabin. Some of the smaller cabins with only one or two people, such as the Phobos cabin or the Nyx cabin were allowed to pick teams as they saw fit, so the Athena cabin ended up with a redhead by the name of Annemarie and her brother Rowen along with Leila and a blue haired girl who called herself Sam. 

Everyone geared up and were allowed to scope out the sides of the forest for places to put their flag. The Athena cabin ended up placing their flag in the middle of a clearing that seemed to only have one path in or out while the Ares cabin placed theirs on what was known as Zeus's fist but really looked more like a pile of giant cow dung. 

They quickly learned everyone's names as they planned their strategy. 

"Brook and Brecker." One of the Athena kids, a male named Kyle Matter, said, gesturing towards his triplet siblings. 

"Run right in there. Distraction. Its what I do best." Brook said, smirking as she held what looked like a pair of brass knuckles with a knife and a sword in her other hand. The male at her side had two daggers, one a double edge and the other a single edge. 

I wish you weren't..." Brecker muttered before speaking up. "And I watch her back." A few other campers were assigned various rolls such as guarding the creek, so boarder patrol, guarding the flag and others were tasked with finding a way through to where the Ares kids had their flag. 

Dakota smirked as she willed her necklace charms to turn into her bow and quiver, slinging it over her shoulder and glancing over at Nico, who smirked right back. Avery paired up with Will and the two stuck together. 

As the horn went off, signaling the game had begun, Will caught Nico's arm. "You know the rules." He said, raising an eyebrow 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Nico replied, rolling his eyes. "Don't overdo it." 

"I'm serious." Will said but Nico gave him a quick kiss before darting off in the other direction. 

"I know." He said over his shoulder. 

Dakota kept an arrow ready in her bow, knocked and ready to be pulled back to shoot as her and Nico ran through the trees along the edge of the forest, heading towards the flag. Thanks to her Archer eyes, Dakota could barely make out Will and Avery heading in the same direction across the way. She saw them run into some trouble and her instincts told her to go help because they were her family, but she knew they'd be ok, so she kept going alongside Nico. They ran into some trouble with a small group of demigods but quickly disarmed or knocked them out and continued on their way through the trees towards where they knew the flag was. 

Pausing where the people guarding the flag on the rocks ouldn't see them easily, Nico used a bit of the shadows to hide their location, trying to figure out how to grab the flag without causing too much of a commotion. 

"I have an idea." Dakota said, glancing at her Papa and concentratingc really hard on where she wanted to go before stepping into a shadow. She ended up nearly falling off the rock structure as she appeared out of the shadow left by the flag but she was quick to grab it and shadow traveled back to where Nico was right as the two guards noticed her and started to lunge, only to be left looking around in confusion as she disappeared, feeling a bit dizzy as she landed next to her Papa, but it quickly passed 

"Lets go." She said, smirking as she held the flag in her hand, running back the direction they had came. They bolted and were nearing the creek when they encountered what would only be a son of Hephaestus with the minor flames dancing in orange spiked his hair and along part of his sword. Another male, wearing all black with black hair appeared next to him, holding a scythe and blocking the way back across the creek. 

Nico was the first to lunge, aiming to distract them while Dakota made it back across the creek. It didn't work too well in their favor, but she smirked a little as she hopped into another shadow and appeared behind them before continuing on her way before either of them could fully react. No one other than her family was fully aware of her abilities, so it often worked in her favor. 

As she appeared behind them, she found herself feeling a bit more dizzy but she pushed through it as she stumbled across the creek, causing the banner to change and ripple until it was both black and yellow, with the symbol of both Apollo and Hades along the flag and the horn sounded again, calling an end to the game as a few people congratulated her on her win for the team. She returned her bow and quiver to the charm on her necklace as she found herself starting to feel a little faint. 

"Are you alright?" Avery asked as he appeared at her side, noticing her teeter a little bit. 

"I'm fine." She replied to her brother with a half-smile before promptly passing out. Avery barely managed to catch her before she fell. 


	3. Chapter 3

When she came to, she was laying on a bed in the Hades cabin and she could hear her parents outside arguing over something.

"I told you not to overdo it then you literally let her do the exact same thing." She could hear her dad say, clearly frustrated as she blinked open her eyes.

"I didn't even know she was going to do it until it was too late, and she seemed perfectly fine after the first jump." Papa replied. She slowly sat up, pushing her blonde curls from her face and noticed Avery sitting on the bed across from hers, legs crossed, with his head back against the wall and staring up at the ceiling. He tilted his eyes a bit and looked over when he saw her sit up.

"Feeling alright?" He asked, giving her a once over with his blue eyes.

"I guess..." She replied.

"Dizzy? Nauseous?" She shook her head.

"I'm feeling perfectly fine, Avery." She leaned her head against the wall behind her and closed her eyes.

"Good. Dad said not to overuse your powers. It could cause you to literally kill yourself by fading into the shadows. No one wants that, Dakota."

"I know," She murmured right as the door to the cabin opened and in walked their parents.

"I need you not to do that again, Dakota. You scared me half to death." Will said as he sat down next to her, pulling her into a tight hug.

"It won't happen again." She assured her dad, resting her head on his shoulder. "Don't get mad at Papa. He didn't know I was going to do it until I'd already done it. My fault, not his."

"Changing the subject, I have a question." Avery spoke up, adjusting his beanie a bit. "How do either of us exist? I was doing research after something someone said about sex and it shouldn't be possible with both of you being male, so unless one of you isn't then it doesn't make sense."

"I've been wondering that too...I just never asked..." Dakota added, looking between her parents, who shared a look before sighing.

"Its difficult to explain...14 years later and we still don't fully understand exactly what happened. The most we can say is that it was a blessing from Apollo...There was only supposed to be one of you two, but we ended up with both of you." Will explained.

"So, we're biologically yours?" Avery asked.

"Why the hell wouldn't you be?" Nico asked, sitting down next to his son. "Of course, you are. Through and through, you share our blood and you have from the moment that blessing brought you into the world. Nothing could change that."

"I wouldn't want anything to change it. I have the best parents in the world." Dakota grinned with a smile.   
  
  
  


  
The next day after breakfast, the di Angelo-Solace family went their separate ways. Nico and Will did whatever married couples do at a summer camp for mostly teenagers and Avery ad Dakota went to go so random things. Dakota spent most of her time that day at the archery range, practicing her shot more and even helping a few newbies who needed help correcting their form. After a while, she got bored and went to go collect her arrows, setting them back in her quiver before returning them to her necklace before going to wander the camp and figure out what else there was to do.

She ended up near what she assumed was the forge, mostly just curious what was going on inside. At first, she thought no one was there until she saw a girl hunched over a table in the back corner, messy curls falling in her face as she worked on something technical looking and very complicated.

"Hey." Dakota said with a smile, walking closer. At first, the girl didn't notice her, too busy with whatever she was working on to see someone was standing there until she reached for a tool next to Dakota and nearly jumped from her skin in surprise as she dropped the tool, pulling out some wireless headphones Dakota hadn't seen.

"Didn't see ya there!" She said with an energetic smile as she brushed her hair from her face, revealing her caramel colored eyes and mischievous smile. "I'm Victoria Valdez but you can call me Vivi."

"Dakota di Angelo-Solace. Are you a daughter of Hephaestus?"

"Legacy. You did good in the capture the flag game last night up until you passed out. Was that your brother who caught you?"

"Yeah..." Dakota sighed. "Avery. Anyway, what are you working on? It looks complicated."

"Oh... I'm trying to rebuild something my dad did." Vivi replied and Dakota could sense some sadness behind the mention of her dad, no matter how she tried to hide it. "It's name is Festus. It's a mechanical dragon. I have to repair circuits and stuff and remake a few parts. I have to assemble it elsewhere. It's too big to fit in here." Vivi seemed so passionate about the whole project that Dakota couldn't help but smile.

"I'd love to see it when it's done. I've never understood technical things, but they always look so cool. If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your dad? Is he not at camp with you??"

Dakota watched Vivi cringe a little, looking away for a moment before sighing. "A monster attacked, and he and my mom died protecting me." Vivi finally said. "I barely remember them. People tell me I'm like him though, so that's something. He also saved the world" She smiled at the end though.

"That's cool, I guess. I'm sorry you didn't really know him." Dakota said. "Wait, Leo Valdez? One of the Seven?"

"Yeah, that's my dad. You're dad's Nico, right? He shadow-traveled the Parthenon across the world?" Vivi asked.

"Thats Papa. My dad's Will. The healer who married him." Dakota smiled a bit.

"It must be cool having two dads." Vivi smiled.

"I mean...I don't know any different and we're happy. I wouldn't change it for the world." Dakota said with a grin, pushing her hair behind her ear.

"You have really pretty eyes." Vivi said suddenly before blushing. "I...i didn't mean to...to say that out loud.."

"I...its ok..You do too." Dakota blushed at the compliment, biting her lip a bit. _Gods, I'm so gay._ Dakota thought to herself, smiling gently when she suddenly heard Vivi's stomach growl.

"Jesus...i missed breakfast again working on this dumb thing. And lunch isn't for another hour..." She muttered, pressing a hand to her stomach with a sigh.

"Come to the Hades cabin with me." Dakota offered. "We have food, mostly because Papa doesn't eat at actual meal times consistently and gets hungry sometimes or dad has to force him to eat something. There's gotta be something we have to hold you over until lunch."

"I was probably just going to steal something from the Stoll cousins again, but ok. They won't admit it but im a better thief than they are. And prankster." Victoria grinned as she followed Dakota from the forge and over to the cabins where she led the way into the Hades cabin, only to discover her parents were there as they looked up with raised eyebrows.

"Uh...She hasn't eatten breakfast and I thought we could...s-share something." She explained, blushing a bit as she pointed towards Vivi, who stood next to her. Will smiled a bit and gestured over to the mini fridge that had been freshly stocked upon arrival at camp before returning to whatever conversation him and Nico had been having, only more hushed since the girls were there. The mini fridge had been stocked with things like fruit, water bottles, granola bars, and a few junk items like chips, but it was mostly healthy stuff.

Dakota looked inside before pulling out an apple as well as two granola bars and two bottles of water. Without looking, she tossed the apple in Vivi's direction. The brunette smiled a bit as she caught it then proceeded to take a bite. Dakota handed her a bottle of water and a granola bar before the two headed back outside.  
  
  
  


"So, thoughts on camp so far?" Will asked as the four sat down at dinner together.

"I like it! Theres so much to do and not enough time. I still haven't been to the beach, but I want to." Dakota said, smiling.

"Its ok, I guess." Avery said with a shrug. "I didn't really explore. I just sat by the lake all day with my notebook."

"That's boring... that's all you do anymore is listen to your music and do things in that notebook and ignore everyone." Dakota said, curling her nose a bit. "You're boring."

"At least I'm not busy being an idiot like you." Avery replied. "I don't get myself hurt doing stupid things like your famous for."

"At least I have friends." Dakota smirked but it quickly fell as she realized what she'd said and saw the look on Avery's face _. Why did I say that? Why did I say that? Why did I say that? I didn't mean it. I didn't mean it. I didn't mean it. I DIDN'T MEAN IT._

Avery's face hardened a bit and, after a few seconds, pushed from the table with his food barely touched and walked away without another word, storming off in a random direction. Dakota stared after him for a moment, still in shock about what she'd said. Sure, her and Avery were always bickering and fighting, but they were brother and sister. They never really meant any of it but she knew she'd crossed the line by bringing that up. Avery had always been socially awkward and rarely had friends, no matter how he tried, and she didn't exactly make it any easier, she realized. She never tried to include him in things with her friends like she should have.

Before Nico and Will could recover from the shock of what she'd said and yell at her for it, she rushed after her brother. "Avery, wait!" She said as she tried to catch up with him.

"Go away Dakota." She heard him snap but something was different about the way he spoke.

"I'm sorry!" She said as she caught his wrist in her hand, causing him to stop. Although he was facing away from her, she thought she saw him wipe his eyes- _Was he crying?_ "You're my brother. I love you. I didn't mean what I said, I swear."

Avery tore his wrist away from her grasp as he turned to look at her, cheeks wet as tears fell from his blue eyes. 'You still said it, so you must think it. You've always been an asshole to me, I expected it and I'm used to it. But this? This is a whole new level of low, even for you. Just leave me alone, Dakota." Avery turned and kept walking, leaving her standing there with a whole new level of guilt in her stomach. She really was sorry, and she regretted saying it with every ounce of her being. After a few seconds, holding back tears of her own, Dakota ran in the direction of the Hades cabin, where she hid under the covers and ignored her parents when they tried to talk to her.

 _You always do this. You're a worthless asshole. He has no right to accept your apology after all you've put him through_. Dakota thought as she silently cried herself to sleep that night with no intentions of getting up the next day.   
  
  
  


The next day , Dakota only got up because she wanted to see Will off since he was leaving, as he still had to work to provide income for the family. As they stood on the hill for the final goodbye, as they wouldn't be seeing him util's the end of summer, Avery was nowhere to be seen.

"We said goodbye earlier." Will explained softly. "He needed time to himself."

"don't sugar coat it." Dakota said with a sigh. "He just didn't want to be around me because-his words not mine-I was an asshole and I was, so I don't blame him..." she looked away before sighing. "I made him cry and I've never seen him cry before..."

"Even if you didn't mean it-I can tell you didn't- what you said is something that would hurt. I can't blame him, Dakota, neither can you. Just try to be nicer, make it up to him slowly. Show him you didn't mean it. He'll come around eventually. I know you two and he will eventually." Will said before giving her a tight hug-the kind only he could give that were the right amount of comforting, soothing, and healing, probably because that was his job as a healer and doctor to do just those things. Dakota still preferred Nico's hugs, but sometimes, Will's hugs were just what she needed.

"I hope so...i don't want him to be mad at me forever." Dakota said a she hugged back, wrapping her arms tightly around his middle. After a few minutes, they pulled apart and she watched Nico exchange hugs, a kiss or two, and a few last-minute threats from Will as to what would happen If Nico fell back ito old habits while he was gone.

"Its going to be weird living alone for the summer, but I'll manage. I will see you all at the end of summer when I come pick you up." They exchanged a family hug before Will shouldered his bag and headed down to the car.

"Call me when you get home." Nico called after him, earning a thumbs up as Will turned around and walked backwards to give them both a smile and final wave before getting in the car and driving away back in the direction of home.

"I'm going to go find Vivi." Dakota said once Will was gone, turning to go back down the opposite side of the hill.

"You've known her a day and you already seem to be good friends." Nico commented as Dakota brushed her blonde hair from her brown eyes.

"Friendships can happen fast, you know. And I really like her. She's funny. Her dad was Leo." Dakota added the last part quietly

"It was a shame how he went. How they both did, won't get to see what she'll become." Nico said. He never really liked Leo-too energetic and hyper for his tastes in friends-but it was still sad to find out how he died. He wasn't all bad as he got older and calmed down a bit.

"Yeah. Well, I will see you at dinner!" With that, Dakota smiled and ran off in the direction of the forge, where she assumed Vivi would be. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the delayed update... haven't been in the mood to right and honestly running out of motivation. Plus, i thought i already posted this part...

Later that night, Nico ended up getting a voicemail from Will, as he’d fallen asleep before the blonde could call. Thanks to Leo and Annabeth before he died, most phones and technology worked within camp and monsters couldn’t use the signals outside of camp to track demigods as easily.

“Papa, did Dad get home safe?” Dakota asked the next morning as she woke up, seeing Nico was awake but he didn’t look too good, like something was wrong.

“I don’t know.” Nico replied with a sigh.

“What do you mean? He called you, right? Like you said?” Dakota was suddenly worried. Nico picked his phone back up and then replayed a voicemail.

“Hey,  Neeks . I got home safe. I already miss you all. Let's hope the twins make up soon, stop fighting as much.” She heard her dad say in the voicemail. “Well, its late and I should get to bed for work. Love all of you.”

“He did get home safe...?” Dakota said after a moment, confused. “ Thats what he said?”

“Are you not hearing what I'm hearing? He said he’s leaving, Dakota. He blocked my number too.” Nico replied and it became clear to Dakota that  she wasn’t hearing what Papa was hearing.

“ Thats not at all what it said.” She protested. “He would never-”

“Everyone leaves eventually, Dakota. They always do.” Nico snapped, causing her to flinch from the venom in his words. She’s never seen this side of him before and it scared her. Quickly changing her clothes, she tried to go find Avery, but he was expertly avoiding her and was nowhere to be found. She asked around and no one knew where he went that day. Dakota ended up hanging out with  Vivi that day, to take her mind off things, praying that it was all an act, that it was fake. As she sat next to  Vivi at the campfire later that night, Avery finally showed up.

“Papa’s acting weird.” He said as he slid into the sat next to her, whispering quietly. “He thinks dad left but that’s not what the voicemail said.” This was the most he’d said to her in the past two days but she was at least thankful he was talking to her

“Something’s not right here.” She replied. “Same thing happened this morning. I couldn’t find you.”

“I... i want to know what's going on. What happened to dad? Why are we hearing one thing but Papa’s hearing another?” Avery said but right as she finished speaking, she noticed Rachel, the Oracle who had been seated nearby, suddenly seize up, eyes glowing a bit as green smoke trailed out of her mouth and nose. Everyone fell silent immediately as she began to give her prophecy, tension hanging in the air.

_ “Two opposites search once more, _

_ The sun has left, and the dead is back to before. _

_ Children of the sun and the dead shall halt their fight,  _

_ To search for the missing light, _

_ To the place where the child of the dead was slain, _

_ To discover where the sun is chained. _

_ Create a bridge between every world, _

_ Before reality is unfurled. _

_ Together, they face the trials for better or worse _

_ For family is either a blessing or a curse.” _

As soon as the words had left her mouth, Rachel collapsed, and the nearest camper caught her before she could fall and gently lowered her to the ground. Murmurs erupted from the group of demigods as they tried to figure out what the prophecy could mean. Dakota furrowed her eyebrows for a moment as she thought. 

_ “Children of the sun and the dead.”  _ She said loudly as she suddenly jumped up on her seat, getting everyone’s attention as they turned to look at her. “That’s me and Avery. No other way it couldn’t be. Were legacies of Apollo and Hades. The sun and the dead.” 

“That means our dad’s missing...” Avery said softly.  _ “to search for the missing light. _ He was the light.”

“That means you have a quest. You leave at sun rise.” Chiron said calmly before dismissing everyone to their cabins or for a last minute of free time before lights out at eleven.

“We should go talk to Papa...” Dakota said after saying a quick goodnight to Victoria. 

“Yeah...” Avery agrees quietly as he followed Dakota in the direction of the Hades cabin, where they found Nico in the same position as when they had seen him, having not moved or eaten that day, and staring off into space blankly with his eyes clearly unfocused. 

“Papa?” Avery said softly, trying to get his attention but he didn’t say anything or act as if he heard them.

“Papa!” Dakota said louder, causing him to finally look over, which allowed them to see how really broken he was, the pain and sadness in his eyes too much for either of them as they had to look away.

“We got a quest...” Avery said. “To find dad...”

“He left...and now you too? Why?” Nico said, sounding hopeless.

“We’ll be back.” Dakota said, feeling a bit scared at the way he was acting so differently only a day after Will had left and then gone missing, by the sounds of the prophecy.

“ Thats what they always say. Now my own kids are doing it too, after everything I've done.” Nico said, tears welling up in his eyes as he looked away with emotion thick in his voice. “Fine. Just take your things and go. I don’t care…” He said he didn’t, but the twins could tell he did, that he was scared and that he was a lot of things he tried to hide. Grabbing her bag and throwing her things inside, Dakota decides to spend the night in the Apollo cabin with Avery, who seemed to have forgotten all about what she’d said. Before following after Avery, she decided to go see Percy and Annabeth for advice, since they were the only senior campers here as of earlier today. She ended up finding them back at the campfire still, chatting with some other campers and Percy with his arms protectively around her and her baby bump. 

“Hey, Dakota.” Percy said with a smile, resting his chin on Annabeth’s shoulder as he saw her approach, most of the other campers already beginning to return to their cabins as it neared eleven for lights out., which Dakota really should be doing as well.

“ Hey..um ...So, Papa was acting really weird this morning. I... i’ve never seen the side of him... She said softly before explaining exactly what had happened, starting with the voicemail and leading up to just a few minutes ago.

“Trust me, he doesn’t mean any of it.” Annabeth said after a moment. “The mist is playing tricks on you all, from the sounds of it. Whomever took Will, they intended to try to break you apart. Jealous or something, but they wanted to isolate Nico, whatever the reason...”

“So, it was the mist playing tricks on him, Is all? But why would he react that way. He seems scared, like he thinks he’s going to be alone forever...”

“A long time ago, He had a sister named Bianca who joined the hunters of Artemis and she later died.” Percy explained, sighing gently at the memory of Bianca. “She didn’t exactly make the best choice in leaving him and he felt betrayed and he’s been hurt too many times in the past. Whatever voicemail he thought he heard due to the mist isn’t exactly the kindest blow to the heart. He thinks the one person he’s opened up to in four years of that happening has left him. Your dad was the only one he trusted more than anything in the world and he’s not here, so he’s scared again and you’re going on a quest and...” Percy sighed again. “He’s scared he’s scared that he’s going to be alone again, that’s all I can say.”

“We’ll look out for him while you’re gone. He’s just as much family to us as he is to you.” Annabeth said with a soft smile.

“ok...good...thank you...” Dakota said, feeling a bit relieved but also still scared for her papa and hoping he would be ok. “I have a question about one of the lines of the prophecy I'm trying to figure out... “ _ To the place where the child of the dead was slain.”  _ Where do you think that might be? I thought Alaska at first, since that’s where Aunt Hazel died the first time, but you mentioned Bianca...”

“Well, it's either Alaska or the junkyard of the gods in Arizona, which is where Bianca died. The only advice I can give you is to try not to stay in one place too long, so the monsters don’t find you as quickly.” Percy said.

“And always have a plan of some sort. It’ll save your butts many times over.” Annabeth added.

“Thank you for the help. It makes this seem easier than it will be and its  kinda comforting. Have a good night.” With that, Dakota dashed off in the direction of the Apollo cabin, where Avery was waiting outside in the dim light. The two walked inside and ended up sharing a bed for the night, like they used to do when they were younger and got a l ong when they couldn’t sleep , shoulders pressed against the other . 

The two ended up waking up not too long after sunrise, just after the rest of the tired Apollo cabin, since everyone was always up with the sun, thanks to their dad. They hated it, but there was nothing they could do about it. Avery was the first up, nudging Dakota until she woke up with a few mumbled threats for interrupting her sleep. 

Avery packed his bag, ensuring he had everything he needed as well as the two bedrolls Chiron had left for them the previous night. Once packed, the two started to leave and head towards the hill.

“Good luck.” Luciana said to the two as they left, but not before forcing some medical supplies on them, like ambrosia, nectar, and bandages-all things they would need if they were to get hurt.

“Thank you.” Avery said, tucking them into his backpack where they’d be safe, since they knew that he was the one with the healing abilities unlike Dakota.

As they approached the hill, Chiron was waiting. Dakota fingered her necklace nervously as they walked, and she could see that Avery was doing the same. 

“Argus will drive you into town and drop you off at the nearest bus station. After that, it's up to you to figure out where to go and how you’re getting there.” Chiron explained before handing them some mortal money. “You’ll need this, but don’t spend it all in one go. It should last you for the duration of your quest.” Dakota nodded with a gentle sigh, pushing her hair from her face.

“Lets go then.” Avery said and started to make his way down the hill, his sister following behind him after a moment , Chiron leaving the other direction.

“Wait!” They heard someone call and both turned around, pausing as they saw someone running towards them, her dark brown curls bouncing a bit as she ran-It was Victoria. “I’m coming with you.” 

“Who’s this?” Avery asked, raising an eyebrow as he watched his sister light up a bit at the other girl.

“Avery, this is Victoria Valdez.  Vivi , this my brother.” She introduced before turning back to  Vivi . “You...you can’t come with us,  Vivi . ”

“Why?  You need a third person, don’t you?”  Vivi asked, fidgeting with the clip of her  tool belt as she watched the twins. 

*We… we have a lot we have to  work through. We fight a lot and we have to learn to get along.” Avery said, crossing his arms. 

*Then you’ll  need a mediator to ensure you don’t kill each other  . You either let me come w ith you or I’ll follow you anyways. ”  Vivi persisted, shooting down  all of the twins arguments  with valid responses  until they agreed to let her come and she followed them down the hill and into Argus’s van. Avery took the front seat, leaving Dakota and  Vivi to cram into the back. Avery puts his headphones in while they pulled away from the bottom of the hill, again scribbling in his notebook like always.

Dakota pulled out her iPod and her headphones and put them in one ear before offering the other toward Victoria, who smiled a bit as she put it into her ear as Dakota pressed play, both enjoying her playlist a bit. Dakotas playlist consisted of things like My chemical Romance, Panic at the disco, fall out boy, and twenty-one pilots as well as Green day, thanks to her god mother  Thalia for getting her hooked.

“I like your bag.”  Vivi said as she smiled a bit, looking over all the patches and pins on Dakota’s backpack. “Its cute.”

“Thanks.” Dakota said with a small blush, curse her gay heart. It was only three days she had known  Vivi and they were already good friends, which wasn’t a bad thing, but she was already developing a crush on the slightly older girl but she wasn’t going to say anything or fear of ruining the friendship they had so far.

“What does he do in that notebook all the time? I’ve seen him around camp a lot with my brother and he always has his notebook.”  Vivi asked.

“I don’t know, actually. And you have a brother?”

“Not technically, but what does it matter? Adriel’s like a brother to me.”

“Adriel?”

“ Kosumi Adriel Mclean. I’ve always called him Adriel though because I couldn’t properly say his name when I was younger. He’s a legacy of Aphrodite. Piper died protecting him the same way my parents did me, so we related heavily and we’re like brother and sister. We always refer to each other as siblings.”  Vivi explained with a smile. “I love him.”

“ Thats cool!”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> want to apologize for not updating this. Im a lot more active on wattpad than i am here, so if you want more regular updates, make sure to check back there. you'll find me @charliethepandicorn

About an hour later, Argus pulled up outside a bus station without another word, allowing the three Legacies to get out with their few things and head inside to buy bus tickets.   
“So...plan of action.” Dakota asked, looking towards Avery.   
“Well, we all know we can’t fly. Zeus isn't having that with us being legacie of Hades so we cant get to Alaska that way. Best bet would be to take a bus to Washington and hop a boat across.”   
“Why Alaska?” Vivi asked curiously.   
“To the place where the child of the dead was slain.” Dakota quoted. “That's where our Auntie Hazel died back in the 1900’s, so it the best place to start, based off that line in the prophecy.”   
“Yeah. Who knows, we might even get to see our cousins while we’re there. Even for a little while.” Avery said with a fond smile.   
“I never thought of that! I’d love to see Layla and Michael again. And Auntie Hazel and Uncle Frank.” Dakota said with a smile. “Let get this over with. “   
  
The three walked into the bus station and purchased three bus tickets headed for Washington state. They boarded the bus about an hour later, taking seats near each other. Dakota sat with Vivi and Avery sat across the aisle from the two with his headphones in and his notebook out, ignoring everyone. The bus wasn’t that busy at all, since it seemed that almost no one needed to get from New York to Washington or to anywhere along the way.   
They relaxed as much as legacies on a quest could relax, knowing that a monster could attack at any moment and that they would have to be able to fight at a moment's notice.   
  
As the three legacies rode the greyhound towards Washington, already having transferred to their second bus without issue, something suddenly slammed into the back of the bus, causing the whole thing to jolt forward and the tires to spin out as the bus lost traction. The driver of the bus intended to pull over, as is protocol based on whatever just happened, but the bus jolted forward again and the three shared a knowing look-monster. They rushed forward towards the front of the bus, shouting at the driver to open the doors   
As soon as the bus was slow enough, the three jumped from the doors and shouted at the drivertokeep going without looking back as they turned to face whatever had attempted to attack the bus. Cyclops at least 10 feet tall with a huge sword in hand. Drawing their weapons, Dakota knocked an arrow, hitting the beast in one of the arms.   
While it was slightly distracted, Avery drew his sword and charged towards the cyclops, leaving a gash on its leg before falling backto avoid getting too hurt. Everyone moved back as the cyclops sliced where they had just been, scatering in several directions in an attempt to use the fact that it was outnumered to their advantage.   
Dakota knocked an arrow, attempting to aim for it’s eye only for it to move a it tried to attack Victoria, the arrow instead flying by its head into the distance. Victoria pulled out a celestial bronze dagger from somewhere inside of the tool belt around her waist and barely had time to deflect the blow from the cyclops on the smaller weapon, which caused her to stumble back several feet as the cyslops tried to get her while she was down.   
“Hey, ugly!” Avery shouted, throwing a rock at the back of the beast's head, which drew its attention away from the legacy of Hephaestus long enough for her to regain her footing. Avery defected a slice from the cyclops off of his own blade before slicing forward, aiming towards the gut.   
Dakota knocked another arrow, managing toland this one in its eye, which caused it to curse in pain and instictively clutch the new wound that rendered it blind. A few quick slices later and the beast disaolved into golden dust, raining down on all of them.   
“We’re not even close to Washington…” Dakota said, looking at the highway sign not too far away.   
“I don’t even think we were close to the transfer station.” Avery sighed, returning his sword to bracelet form as Dakota did the same with her bow and necklace form.   
“Time to hitchhike then?” Vivi suggested hesitantly.   
“No other option.”   
The three sighed, and started to walk in the directions the bus had went. Since Vivi was the oldest and looked almost 16, she decided on the cover story for whomever picked them up.   
  
“What are you three doing walking along the side of the highway like this?” a kind lady asked as she pulled up next to the three, ushering them to get in.   
“These are my younger siblings.” Victoria explained. “I was driving us home when my car broke down a while back. We’re just trying to get into the nearest town.”   
  
A about an hour later, the lady pulled up off an exit and into a gas station parking lot, asking the three of they needed any help getting home.   
“we’re alright ma’am.” Vivi kindly thanked her. “We’re not too far off home. We really appreciate the ride.” After a couple. More reassurances that they would be ok, the lady bid them farewell and drove off. 


	6. Chapter 6

“Run!” Dakota shouted, rushing back in the direction of where Avery and Vivi were waiting. “Empousai and a Hydra. Fucking run.” Without any form of protest, the group ran in the opposite direction of the monsters chasing them, hoping to lose the monsters but luck didn’t seem to be on their side as another set of Empousai appeared in front of them almost suddenly as they all drew their weapons, preparing to fight.   
It was an unfair fight, to say the least. A three headed, acid spitting hydra and around six Empousai disguised as human, to the mortals at least.   
“Well, what are you three doing all alone out here?” One of the Empousai cooed, pouring the charm speak into her words. “Its a dangerous world for three demigodsas young as you.”   
‘Oh, fuck off!” Dakota growled, transforming her necklace into bow form and lodging an arrow into the monsters chest before she could even react, turning her to dust. The others hissed and started to attack, pouring their charm speak into every taunt and word as they tried to get the three legacies disoriented enough to kill.   
The Hydra started to attack on top of it all, shooting acid out of one of its various mouths and trying to eat one of the three with the others.   
“Avery,you cut the head off.” Dakota said, stabbing her arrow into the chest of the last Empousai as she got to close.   
“But we have to-”   
“Burn the stump, I know.” Dakota held out an arrow towards Vivi, who happily obliged by lighting tip of the arrow on fire. “Just cut it!” As one of the heads swooped down in an attempt to grab Avery, he swung his sword, lobbing the head clean off as Dakota released her flaming arrow right into the spot where two heads were attempting to form, stopping it from continuing. A few struggling minutes later, the hydra burst into golden dust, leaving the three panting as they put their weapons away and tried to catch their breaths.   
“So far, we’re not finding anything in Alaska.” Vivi grumbled as the three left the scene of their most recent fight. “Nothing but monster fights. That’s the sixth one in three days.”   
“Nothing.” Dakota agreed. “Maybe...Maybe Alaska wasn’t what we needed after all. I mean, it is outside of the Gods’ domain.”   
“There’s nothing here...where else would it be? Aunt Hazel died here and we checked the exact spot she died and there was nothing...i...i don’t know...” Avery sighed to himself. “Lets...get to Uncle Frank’s and Aunt Hazel’s. They’re not too far across the border and...and we need a proper place to rest and...and real meal.”   
Several hours later, as it neared night fall, the three found themselves on Frank and Hazels door step, weary, hungry, and tired. Knocking on the door, they simply hoped everyone was still awake. Their iPods had died several days ago and they had no way of knowing exactly what time it was.   
“I got it, Mom!” a voice called from within and the door swung open, revealing a short black haired girl about two or three years older than the twins were with golden colored eyes and caramel colored skin. “Dakota! Avery!” She said in surprise before ushering them in, Hazel appearing from somewhere else in the house followed by a taller male with cinnamon colored hair, dark brown hair, and mocha colored skin.   
“Cousins!” He exclaimed in surprise.   
“And Victoria.” Dakota added, gesturing to the legacy of Hephaestus.   
“Valdez. Victoria Valdez. You can call me Vivi, though.” The brunett added nervously.   
“You three are a mess.” Hazel said softly as she walked over, gently pulling the three in for a quick hug. “I wasn’t expecting a visit from you all until the end of the summer.”   
“Uh...well, dad’s been kidnapped and we’re kinda on a quest to find him.” Avery said quietly.   
“Reguardless, lets get you fed and cleaned up and we can talk more when Frank gets home.” Hazel said.   
“Come on, Avery. I got some stuff thatll fit you.” The taller male said.   
“Thanks, Michael.” Avery said, following after his cousin as he led the way down the hall towards his room.   
“I have stuff that’ll fit you two.” The short haired girl said with a smile as she beckoned Dakota and Victoria to follow her up the stairs towards her room.   
“Thanks, Layla.” Dakota said but noticed her cousin flinch slightly.   
“I’m...actually Landon now. I’m...trans.”   
“Oh. Okay. Thanks, Landon.” Dakota said, smiling a bit at her older cousin, immediately correcting herself and repeating it a few times in her head so she hopefully wouldn’t forget.   
“You’re pronouns are he/him,right? Victoria asked, earning a nod and a smile from the male   
Landon led the two into his room and immediately begun digging around in some of his clothes. His room was decently big with plenty of space for him. Against one wall was a loft bed with a couch and a TV underneath. Against the opposite wall was a simple desk made with black wood and a rolling desk chair to match. Being used as the curtains for his windows was the trans flag and the pansexual flag. There were a few different posters and pictures on the walls, including several of the whole Zhang family, a few with the di Angelo-Solace family and a few with both families together. There were also ones from different birthday parties and fun times they’d all had.   
“Who’s this?” Dakota asked, looking at a few pictures of Landon standing next to a blue haired person, some selfies, some selfies but with one of them kissing the other cheek.   
“Oh. That’s my partner, Jordan. They’re a Norse legacy. Related to...i believe they said Frey, god of peace, fertility, wealth, rain, summer, and sunshine, and Loki, the genderfluid shape shifting god of mischief.” Landon explained with a fond smile.   
“Anyone want a skirt? I’m still trying to get rid of everything like that and I found another one.” Landon asked, glancing over his shoulder.   
“I’m good.” Dakota said. “I haven’t worn dresses or anything like that since I was younger.”   
“I don’t need it. I only wear for formal occasions.” Vivi said.   
“I’ll just give it to Jordan the next time they’re here then.” He said with a shrug before turning around with a pair of shorts, joggers, and two t-shirts. He handed the joggers to Vivi along with a shirt efore handing the rest to Dakota.   
“The bathrooms right across the hall.” He said with a small smile before heading from the room and back downstairs. Dakota headed into the bathroom to change before heading back downstairs, where everyone was waiting.   
“Explain exactly whats going on.” Hazel said once she had come back from putting their clothes in the wash, sitting down on the couch next to her husband, who had been home all of five minutes.   
“We got to camp, it was a good time. Dad left because he still had to work. Next day, papa wakes up to the voicemail he was left the previous night after falling asleep.” Avery started.   
“I’m the first one to hear the voicemail after papa and the voicemail says that dad got home safe but that he already misses us and doesn’t want to wait until the end of summer to see us again.” Dakota continued. “Thats what I tell papa, but he just gets all defensive and “everyone leaves eventually.” so I walk out of the cabin.’   
“So, he was hearing something different than what you were hearing?” Frank confirms, earning a nod from the di Angelo-Solace twins.   
“Yeah....that night at the camp fire, Rachel gave us a prophecy and we left about a two weeks ago from camp...” Avery finished their recap by repeating the prophecy.   
“That explains why he’s not answering my calls. He must’ve turned his phone off.” Hazel said.   
“As for...to the place where the child of the dead was slain-” Frank started.   
“We checked Alaska already.” Victoria said. “All we found was six monster attacks in three days.”   
“Then I'm not sure...” Hazel said, thinking for a few seconds. “He did mention he had an older sister, Bianca.”   
“That’d be Arizona then.” Dakota exclaimed. “I forgot about that! Percy and Annabeth mentioned she died in the junkyard of the gods.” 


	7. Chapter 7

“Ah, shit.” Avery muttered, nudging Dakota in the side as they walked along the road, headed towards where they knew they needed to go-the junkyard of the gods. “Cyclops, two o’clock.”   
“I think that’s a manticore.” Vivi muttered. “Six o’clock. They’re coming towards us.”   
“Ill take the manticore.” Dakota said, grabbing her necklace and willing it to turn into her bow and quiver, which she strung over her shoulder as she notched an arrow, ready to fight. “Long range against long range, with that tail. You two get the Cyclops” With that, Dakota pulled back the string on her bow and turned to face the manticore, taking a deep breath before releasing her arrow. The beast leapt into the air, narrowly dodging the arrow, which sliced through some of the fur on its hind, barely leaving a mark let alone an injury.   
Meanwhile, Avery willed his bracelet to turn into his sword and prepared to fight the large beast. Vivi pulled out her dagger as well as a sludge hammer from her toolbelt and prepared to fight alongside Avery.

Dakota managed to keep the manticore at a distance with her arrows and leave a few injuries while dodging the spikes that were shot her way and keeping them away from the other two all the same. She wouldn’t go down without a fight, like both of her parents.   
She winced as a spike grazed her shoulder, momentarily causing her to be dizzy at the sight of her own blood but shot at the manticore, embedding an arrow into one of it paws, causing it to roar in pain. The graze wasn’t that deep, and she wasn’t losing too much blood, but Dakota found herself growing weaker and her aim was getting worse as her vision grew blurry, but she tried to fight it. Suddenly, as she grabbed another arrow and shakily tried to notch another arrow, she felt a sharp pain in her back and cried out, blindly thrusting the tip of her arrow behind her and into the manticore that had appeared behind her.   
“Dakota!” Vivi looked over in time to see Dakota kill the manticore and collapse onto the ground. She dropped her dagger and hammer as she rushed over to her side. She was losing a lot of blood and Victoria didn’t have the faintest idea on what to do.   
“Avery!” She shouted at the male who was preoccupied with the larger creature.   
“A bit busy here!” The black-haired male shouted, blowing his hair from his face as he rolled to the side to dodge a blow from the cyclops’ club.   
“Then switch with me, O healer!” Vivi shouted, adding the last part semi-sarcastically. “Your sisters dying over here!” Avery looked over for a spit second, just long enough to see the blood and the unconscious body of his sister with her backpack, quiver, and bow laying discarded next to her and Victoria.   
_No no no no no no no no no_ Avery thought. _Not Dakota. She may be an asshole but she’s my sister._   
“Get over here then. I can't just leave a fight without someone covering me!” Avery shouted, slicing at the cyclops and managing to leave a mark on its calf. Vivi gently placed Dakota on the ground, picking up her dagger and hammer again as she rushed to switch places with Avery, attacking and getting the cyclops attention long enough for Avery to rush to Dakota’s side and pull his healing things from his backpack and set to work on healing Dakota.   
He’d watched Will do thing before and he’d remembered everything he’d been taught but he had never done anything firsthand or fully by himself and he barely knew what he was doing but he wasn't going to give up. He hummed a hymn he remembered his dad teaching him as he got to work, pouring a bit of nectar over some of her injuries and forcing a bit of ambrosia into her mouth as he patched up her injuries, praying to Apollo, Hades, and whatever god might be listening.   
_Please don’t let her die. Please let me save her. She’s my sister. I don’t want to lose her. I know we fight all the time, but I love her. Please let me save her._ He prayed silently as he worked, feeling a bit of his energy leave him as he worked on healing her, pushing that energy into her.   
Meanwhile, Victoria lunged at the cyclops and did her best to keep it distracted away from the twins. She received a few injuries herself like a few cuts, scraps, and bruises but nothing too serious before she finally managed to kill the cyclops, a bit of blood trailing down the side of her face from a nasty blow she’d received. Tucking the hammer and dagger back into her toolbelt, she knelt next to the twins.   
“Is she going to be ok?” Vivi asked worriedly.   
“She’ll be ok.” Avery said, looking a bit weary himself as he looked back up at Victoria. “Do you want me to...?”   
“No. I'm fine. Dont waste your energy on me” Vivi reached over and grabbed a small square of ambrosia from the bag and chomped it down, feeling some strength returning to her body as it healed.   
Finally, after what felt like forever, Dakota blinked open her brown eyes with a soft groan as she immediately tried to sit up, only for Avery to gently push her back down. “Careful. You lost a lot of blood, sis.”   
“I’m fine.” she insisted, pushing his hand away and sitting up very carefully. “What happened?”   
“The manticore managed to over power you and it almost killed you. We tag teamed the cyclops and managed to kill it.”   
“I killed it while he healed you.” Victoria added.   
“You...you healed me? By yourself?” Dakota asked, looking twards her brother.   
“You don’t see dad anywhere around here, do you? Or a doctor?” Avery replied, blushing a bit. “I thought I was going to lose you, ‘kota.”   
“You didn’t. I’m here and I'm not going anywhere. You’re a blessing, you know that?” She pulled her brother in for a hug. “You may be a wanna be Athena kid, but you’re my brother-my wanna be Athena kid-and I'd have died many times without you. Maybe you’re not so much of a curse as I used to think you were.”   
  
  


“I think that’s the junkyard up ahead.” Vivi said, squinting into the distance before taking off in a run.   
“Wait up!” Dakota said, starting to run after her, her necklace bouncing against her chest as she ran.   
“Slow down!” Avery shouted, chasing after the two while his yellow backpack bounced against his back slightly. “It's not smart to go running in there like that without a plan! We don’t even know if we’re in the right place, let alone what's out there!”   
The two girls came to a stop near what looked like an abandoned taco stand from the 1920’s that was near a boarded-up house and a small white post office labeled “Gila Claw, Arizona.” beyond that were hills but the countryside was always too flat for things like hills and, upon closer inspection, the hills turned out to be mounds of old junk and cars alongside lots of scrap metal.   
“I don’t entirely understand why we had to come here, other than the prophecy said to.” Dakota said, looking over at Avery.   
“Me neither.” Avery said, sighing as he took off his backpack and unrolled his bedroll. “But its getting late, we should make camp, get some rest while we can. Who knows how much longer this quest is going to take or even when we’ll get a break next?”   
“You’re right. Lets take what we can get.” Dakota said, pulling of her bag and doing the same as well. Victoria was next to set up a spot.   
“Lets try to setup a fire.” Vivi suggested. “It might get cold and it’ll be better to eat warm beans rather than cold beans.” She pulled a can out of her backpack and offered it towards the two twins.   
“I’ll work on a small pit. You go get wood. You can probably get some off of that boarded up house.” Avery said, immediately started gathering some rocks and using his hands and a little bit of water in order to dig a bit of a hole that he then arranged the rocks around in order to prevent the fire from getting out of control.   
After a few minutes, Dakota and Vivi came back with some boards in their arms. The two dumped some of them in the small pit and Avery started to pull out some matches but Vivi stopped him.   
“I got it.” She said and grabbed a board, lighting her hand on fire as she did, which soon caused them to have a nice fire that they were able to use to heat up some food.   
“Where did you even get this food?” Avery asked as he looked over at Victoria.   
“Your aunt and uncle gave it to me before we left. I’ve just been making sure we’ve had enough until this is over.” she explained with a small smile over her can.   
As it started to near a bit closer to night fall and the sun neared being set, a car suddenly appeared, blinding them all with its bright lights and didn’t give them enough time to move as it came to a stop just inches from them.

“Who are you?” Dakota and Avery were quick to jump up, weapons drawn and ready to attack.   
“At ease.” the figure said as he got out of the car, pulling off a pair of sunglasses and placing them on top of his head. He had blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and a surfer’s tan, looking extremely fit and powerful.   
“I’m not here to hurt my own grandchildren.” He said, sighing a bit as he shook his head. “   
“Apollo.” Avery said in surprise, returning his sword to his bracelet as Dakota did the same with her bow and arrow.   
“You did excellent, Avery, when you healed Dakota.” Apollo said, waving his hand and Dakota felt the last of her injuries heal fully and disappea r as she felt stronger. “The one gift I can give you, using my abilities, at least.”   
“Do you know where dad is?” Avery asked. “Papa. He-’   
“i’m aware. I've been watching everything. Will is safe, for the moment. He hasn’t been harmed-yet.” Apollo said. “I don’t know what he’s planning or how he didn’t die but your dad is safe, for now.”   
“What who’s planning?” Victoria chimed in, looking over at the sun god.   
“You’ll find out soon enough.” Apollo said, shaking his head a bit. “Dakota, come here for a moment.” Hesitant, Dakota glanced back at Avery for a moment, earning a soft nod before she approached the god, who wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her away from the group.   
“California. That’s where you need to go. I can’t give you much more information than that.’ Apollo said with a soft sigh.   
“And you’re telling only me...because?” Dakota asked.   
“Thats not why. You don’t have to be aphrodite to see that you have feeling for her.” Apollo said with a smile.   
“I...what do you mean?” Dakota said, blushing.   
“You have feelings for Victoria.’ Apollo smirked when the words caused his granddaughter to blush an even brighter shade of red. “I’m not aphrodite or the god of love, but I'm telling you to go for it. That’s the last piece of advice I can leave you. Good luck.” With a small flash, Apollo and the sun chariot were gone, leaving the three legacies alone on the side of the road.   
“California.” Dakota said as she approached the group after her little conversation with the god of the sun. “Thats where we have to go.”   
“He pulled you aside just to tell you that?” Avery asked.   
“Uh...y-yeah.” Dakota said, trying not to blush as she rubbed the back of her neck nervously. “I don’t know why, since you have a better connection to him than I do, but that was it.”   
“If you say so.” Vivi said with a smile that caused Dakota to blush again, thankful for the fading light.   
“Lets get some rest.’ Avery added as he crawled into his own sleeping bag and rolling over to face away from the girls as he started to fall asleep, his breathing starting to even out after a few minutes. The girls were quick to fall asleep shortly after.

The next morning, the girls were the first ones awake, having already eaten by the time Avery woke up.   
“Hey...Wanna find out whats in his notebook?” Dakota whispered towards Victoria as they ate some of the dry food that had been stored in one of their backpacks.   
“We...shouldn’t.” Vivi said, shaking her head as Dakota walked over to where Avery was still sleeping with his notebook tucked against his chest. She reached down slowly and started to gently tug the book from his grasp. He shifted,muttering something as he rolled over, causing dakota to freeze and release the book but as he rolled over, it tumbled from his grasp, allowing her to pick it up and sit back down next to Vivi as she flipped open to a random page and starting to read quietly outloud.   
“I want to tell you. I really do. I’d love to spill my secrets, my issues to you. Yet I can’t comprehend it. I can’t communicate to you and the fact that you could leave me. It makes my heart a tearful blue. You already look at me as if I'm broken. What do I have to loose? I want to tell you. I really do,yet I can’t cope with the fact that your presence may fade. Vanish without a trace. Except you’d still have that key. The key that can unlock the darkness in my brain.” Dakota read quietly, glancing up at Vivi.   
“It’s a poem. What else is there?” Vivi asked with a raised eyebrow.   
“let me see.” Dakota fipped toa new pageand started to read. “I never thought I'd matter. To anyone. Until you. Came alone. And changed my perspective. Of the universe. You made me feel. Like I matter. And I'm grateful. For you.”   
“He’s really good at this. Read another one.”   
“Hey. I love you. And it happened so quick, but. I love you. And I can’t wait to make memories, because I love you.” Dakota read from yet another page.   
“He’s in love with someone. It’s a love poem.” Victoria said in surprise. “What else is there?”   
“I lost my breath kissing you and now I'm loosing it again missing-” Dakota didn’t get to finish because the notebook was suddenly yanked from her hands and she looked up to see Avery glaring down at her with the same ferocity Papa did whenever he was angry, which almost made her shiver.   
“Why? Why do you insist on going through my things?” Avery growled, walking over to his stuff again and starting to pack it up.   
“I...i was just curious..” Dakota admitted, feeling bad again. “I won’t do it again.”   
“You say that every time. I don’t expect you to stop anytime soon.” Avery sighed as he shouldered his bag, not looking at either of the two. “Let’s get going. We gotta trek across this whole junkyard in order to get to California. Who knows how long that’ll take.” Very quickly, the girls packed their bags and followed after Avery who walked ahead of them as if he had no intention of speaking to either of them-and he didn’t, not unless he had to.   
“Don’t take anything. It all has to stay here.” Avery said. “I’ve been paying attention to our history and Bianca di Angelo died by trying to take something for her younger brother.”   
“That would be Papa.” Dakota said as she scrambled up a tall pile of debris in an attempt to keep up with her twin brother. “I asked Percy and Annabeth. That's what they told me. She was his older sister and he felt betrayed because she joined the hunters of Artemis and left him behind but after sacrificing herself, he blamed Percy for a long time before becoming friends in the end.”


	8. Chapter 8

As they trekked across the junk yard, Avery walked ahead of the two girls, still not interested in talking to either of them. 

“Can I tell you something?” Vivi asked Dakota as they walked, occasionally tripping or stumbling over the piles of junk.   
“Anything.” Dakota said, glancing over before looking forward again to make sure Avery hadn’t left them behind.   
“Um… so… remember when… saved you… yesterday?”   
“It was yesterday. If course I remember.” Dakota said, shooting the other a smile.   
“Yeah… I was scared you were going to die. And I realized something.” She said nervously.   
“Well, spit it out.”   
“I didn’t want anything to happen to you without telling you that I like you.”   
“I like you too. We are friends, right?” Dakota asked, confused.   
“Yeah… but I… I meant… well, in a gay way.” Victoria said quickly, which caused Dakota to pause, face growing red.   
“Oh.” She squeaked softly.   
“I.. I just needed to tell you that. I don’t exp-“ Vivi started, trying to back peddle but before she could finish, Dakotas lips were on her own before she quickly pulled back, blushing as well.   
“I didn’t know if you were gay or not, so I didn’t say anything.” Dakota said softly,   
“We better catch up to Avery. I don’t want to get left behind.” Vivi said softly but smiled happily as she grabbed Dakotas hand and pulled her along. 

What felt like hours later, the group made it out of the junkyard and into California but there was one problem. They had no idea what to do next.   
“We...have a few bucks left...lets actually grab a meal.” Victoria suggested, giving a nervous smile. “It looks like there's a McDonalds a bit away.” She pointed up the street where a McDonalds sign stood about three blocks away.   
“Not a bad idea.” Avery agreed after a moment. “It gives us time to discuss our options.” After walking into the restaurant, the girls got a 20-piece nugget and some fries to share while Avery got a 2 cheese burger and fry combo for himself. They ended up sitting in a booth in the back where no one would bother them.   
“We don’t even have a plan of action. We received a prophecy that was probably the most vague in existence on where we need to go.” Dakota said with a sigh.   
“The prophecy of the Seven literally had no instructions on where to go other than “Foes bear arms to the doors of death.” Avery said, shaking his head. “About as vague as ours with “To the place where the child of the dead was slain.” None of us knew where that was exactly. We only figured that out with past help.”   
“Hold on.” Vivi said quietly. “There’s a guy across the restaurant that’s been staring at us since we got here. He’s clearly grown up but scrawny, pale and he hasn’t taken his eyes off of us.”   
“I going to go refill my cup so I can catch an unsuspicious glance. "Avery said quietly, grabbing his cup and heading to the soda machine before coming and sitting back down.   
“He looks like dad but paler, uglier, and less like Apollo.” Avery said as soon as he sat back down. “He has an SPQR tattoo with a lyre. Probably a legacy like us, since the romans are known for having lots of legacies.”   
“I’d say we go talk to him, but he’s been staring so long that I don’t think he’s a friend.” Dakota said, popping another nugget in her mouth as she avoided staring back at the other male. “He...he’s leaving.” She watched as the other male stood and walked out the door but not without pausing at the door and staring at them for another moment before leaving.   
“I say we follow him.” Vivi said after a moment. “Who knows where he might lead us.”   
“Lets do it.” Avery agreed, finishing off the last of his fries before they tossed their trash and followed in the direction, they had seen the other male leave. They quickly found him but kept their distance so as to not get caught. After a long while of walking as it started to near night time and the streets started to clear, the male they had been following looked around, causing the group to duck behind a corner just in time to avoid being seen before watching him disappear into an abandoned building. They all shared a look before following after him inside, being very quiet. 

They clung to the shadows, Dakota carefully using them to make sure they stayed hidden. They entered an open space and saw the other male they’d been following walk over to another male who sat with his arms chained above his head, slumped on his knees and looking very bloody and beat up with a gag in his mouth. He weakly lifted his head to glare up at the other male, who smirked.   
As the victim looked up, his hair falling in his eyes, they realized that it was Will. Avery resisted the urge to call out, knowing his dad needed medical attention really badly.   
“Still haven’t given up, I see.” the ugly blonde taunted, looking like he was going to attack Will again.   
“Patience, Octavian.” Another voice rang out and the three legacies saw a ghost float into the room. “They’ll be here soon and then you can really get revenge on that Graecas who dare do what he did.”   
“That son of Hades needs to pay for crimes he committed but no one ever listens, King Minos.” Octavian growled, turning away from Will and towards the ghost. “I should never trust a graecas but you hate them as much as I do.”   
“I don’t associate with those kinds of people. I am the ghost king after all and I have a right not to.” the ghost replied with an obvious smirk. Finally, Dakota had enough and let out a growl as she emerged from their hiding spot, bow drawn, with the other two behind her.   
“You are not the ghost king.” Dakota snarled. “You lost the right to that title and it now belongs to my papa.”   
“Dear child, you know nothing.” The ghost laughed as he turned to face them.   
“Then how come I know how to send you back to the underworld?” Dakota grabbed her lone stygian iron arrow and shot before the ghost could react, permanantly dissapearing as the arrow went through it.   
“You’re out numbered.” Avery said, turning towards the other male.   
“You’re out matched.” Octavian smirked.   
“Doubtable, you scrawny ass fucker.” Avery drew his sword. “You don’t know half the shit we’ve gone through this past month trying to find our dad.” Dakota was surprised by Avery’s choice of words, since she’d never really heard him curse before, but she tried not to show it as she aimed another arrow at Octavian.   
“As if I haven’t been watching. Killing the four of you will be my pleasure.” Octavian drew a sword about as long as his forearm and lunged. Dakota released her arrow, intending to hit his shoulder but he moved and it ended up hitting him in the chest instead, causing him to freeze and look down as blood poured from his new wound. He was quick to fall to the ground, dead by the time he hit the floor, which was a very anticlimactic fight in Avery’s opinion, as he rushed over towards his dad, pulling the gag out of his mouth before working on the chains around his wrists.   
“You came for me.” Will said weakly, watching his son as Dakota also came to kneel In front of him, pulling a bit of ambrosia from Avery’s bag and forcing it into his mouth as Avery did the chains.   
“Of course we did, dad.” Dakota said softly. “We’d have probably searched the whole world if not for the prophecy guiding us.”   
“Prophecy?” Will said, gently rubbing at his wrists once they were free.   
“Yeah...Rachel gave a prophecy the night after you left that voicemail saying how you got home safe and how much you missed us.” Avery said, pulling a few other things out as he looked over his dad’s injuries in order to see what he needed to patch him up.   
“I’m fine, Avery.” Will tried to assure him but the black-haired male shook his head as he got to work.   
“No, you’re not. I know what I'm doing.”   
“Papa...he thinks you left out of choice. He was hearing a different voicemail than we were thanks to the mist. He thinks you left some terrible voicemail about how you hated him and us and...and that you wish you’d never gotten married.” Dakota said sadly. “He thinks we left too, to be with you...”   
“Oh gods.” Will said, closing his eyes and wincing a little as Avery worked on patching him up. “That means.... well, he’s starving himself again...he probably started harming himself again...”   
“Like, cutting?” Victoria said in surprise, her eyebrows shooting up, but will shook his head.   
“Being reckless, not caring what happens, training in ways he knows he shouldn’t-stupid things. It’s a form of self-harm, not taking care of yourself and that’s what he did all the time before we got together. I wouldn’t be surprised if he fell back into old habits.” Will sighed, pushing his blonde hair from his blue eyes. “He took my phone.” He gestured over to Octavian. Vivi nodded and rushed over, carefully searching the dead body while trying not to vomit from how gruesome It was, also retrieving Dakotas arrows and handing them back to her as she handed Will his phone.   
Will turned it on, thankful it still had battery, and called Nico. It went straight to voicemail, just like he expected.   
“Nico, I’m sorry. I need you to listen to my other voicemail again, as long as you haven’t deleted it. I never said any of what you thought you were hearing. It was the mist. It was playing tricks on you, making you think you were hearing something else.” Will said, looking around at everyone as Avery finished patching him up to the best of his ability. “I love you, and nothing’s going to change that, absolutely nothing. You’re my everything. Our whole family is and I don’t know where I'd be without any of you. I was kidnapped, to say the least.   
“Turns out, Octavian didn’t die like we thought all those years ago, somehow he didn’t, even though you said you felt it. I don’t really know; I don’t really care. A ghost, Minos, he was working with Octavian, the mastermind behind the whole plan. We’re in California at the moment and we’re on our way back. Call me, please. Or iris message me. Just...contact me somehow. I need to know that you’re ok and that you hopefully didn’t partake in old habits again. I love you more than anything.”   
With those final words, Will hung up. “We should get going. We need to get back.”   
“Its late.” Dakota said. “Its dark outside and we need rest. Its probably not good for you to be traveling either, with how injured you are.”   
“Its not.” Avery agreed.   
“Lets find somewhere to rest then.’ Will said, slowly standing up, wincing slightly at the pain in his legs from however long he’d been forced to kneel like that. After another quick assessment og WIll’s injuries, which earned some praise for how well Avery knew what to do and how well he’d done it, they ended up getting a room in a cheap motel. Will and Avery shared one bed while Dakota and Victoria shared the other, smiling happily and discussing more about their feelings for each other and what exactly that meant as they drifted back to sleep. 

The next morning, the four of them went to the nearest bus station and bought tickets back to new york. Luckily, on their way, the bus didn’t have anything bad happen like the first time, so they made it back in about three days, after a few transfers and stops. Will left a few more voicemails on Nico’s phone, but he never answered and it always went straight to it, which meant that his phone was turned off. Finally, he called Percy and Annabeth,which was something he never did. 


	9. Chapter 9

Will asked Percy and Annabeth to inform everyone that they were safe and on their way back to camp from California. It would be a few days, since Hazel, the only other person who could shadow travel, wasn’t at Camp Jupiter at the moment. A few days later, a taxi dropped the four off at the bottom of the hill, hesitant to let them go with complaints that there wasn’t anything out there until Will assured him that they were fine.  
“Avery!” a voice called and all five heads turned and saw someone had come up he hill. It was a male with beige colored skin and waist length long hair. There were a few braids in his hair, including a small feather woven into one of them.  
“Kosumi!” Avery said, visibly lighting up as he went and pulled the other in for a hug. As Will turned and gazed at the male, he couldn’t help but feel like there was something familiar about the other. That’s when it hit him-the males kaleidoscope colored eyes.  
“Your mom’s Piper, isn’t it?” Will asked against his better judgement. “Mclean?” As Avery and Kosumi pulled apart, the long-haired male nodded gently, looking away.  
“She was an amazing hero.” Will said. “She was an amazing person, too. I didn’t know her too well, but I know that much.”  
“I’ve been told. I wish I could have gotten to know her personally.” Kosumi said softly before turning back towards Avery. “We should go find Asa. She’d be happy you’re back.” Avery glanced back at their dad, silently asking if it was ok.  
“Isn’t Asa your girlfriend, Adri?” Victoria asked Kosumi, using her nickname for him  
“Yeah, of six months.” Kosumi replied, blushing a bit as he glanced back at Avery.  
“I’ll be ok. Go ahead.” Will said to Avery, smiling softly. Avery grabbed Kosumi’s hand and pulled him into camp, quickly disappearing as they passed Thalia’s pine.  
“Are they dating?” Will asked, turning to look towards Dakota ad Vivi with a raised eyebrow.  
“Don’t ask me!” Dakota said, putting her hands up.  
“I have no clue. Last I knew, Adri was dating this girl named Asa Walker.” Vivi replied, shrugging as she adjusted the strap of her backpack.  
“They seem close.”  
“Adri talked about him a lot in the few days before the quest, so I think they are.”  
“I’m going to go find Nico. “ Will said finally, reaching up to fidget with his camp necklace.  
“Do you want me to come with?” Dakota asked, reminded of her worry for her papa.  
“No. We need to talk about some things.” Will said, earning a nod from Dakota and Victoria.  
“Alright. Well, I’ll see you at dinner.” Dakota gave Will a quick hug before following after Vivi into camp, hand in hand.

Dakota and Vivi ended up spending some time over at the archery range with Dakota helping her with her aim and form.  
“You’ll get better with practice.” Dakota assured her. “I was terrible in the beginning. I almost picked up a sword, but that was even worse. I actually hurt myself using a sword once.”  
“How badly?” Vivi asked, smiling a bit as she looked over at Dakota. The blonde smiled a bit and pulled up her sleeve to reveal the long scar up part of her forearm that was about half an inch wide.  
“I stole Avery’s sword and was running with it. I tripped and hurt myself pretty badly. Dad had to patch me up, but I haven’t picked up a sword since. Archery’s more my style.”  
“Most people would expect a gnarly scar like that to be from a fight. You could just casually say it was from our quest.” Vivi said with a laugh.  
“Nah. Av and Papa would immediately shut it down.” Dakota laughed a bit, letting the sleeve of her hoodie fall back down.  
“You’re beautiful.” Victoria said with a small smile, causing Dakota to blush.  
“No, you are.” Dakota countered, not able to come up with a good rebuttal.  
“Nope. You are. No debate here.” Vivi grinned and leaned forward, capturing Dakota’s lips against her own.  
“I’m going to miss you when summer ends.” Dakota said with a soft smile once she pulled back.  
“We still have two months, so don’t go thinking about it now.” Vivi set the training bow back on the stand and grabbed Dakota’s hand. “What say you we go bother Adri and Av?”  
“Of course!” Dakota grinned, following after her girlfriend as she led the way. They found the two under a tree near the lake alongside a girl with short brown hair and blue eyes. They were laying in a cuddle pile under the tree with their heads on each other. Kosumi was looking through Avery’s notebook and Avery was clearly filling the two in on the quest from the few words they could make out in a distance.  
“I’m glad you’re back safe.” The girl said, taking a second to lean over Kosumi, who was in the middle of the pile, to press a kiss to Avery’s cheek. “I don’t know what I’d do if you died or something.”  
“I’d still find a way to get back. I love both of you too much to not try.”  
“I love you too, Rae.” The girl said, looking over when she saw Dakota and Victoria approaching.  
“Whats going on here?” Dakota asked, raising an eyebrow.  
“What? I’m not allowed to have physical contact with my..fr..friends?” Avery said, hesitating on the word friends.  
“You just said you loved them both and Asa said she loved you too.” Vivi countered. “Are you three dating?” Hesitating, Avery nodded with a nervous sigh.  
“We’re all polyamorous.” He said softly. “So, three-way consensual relationship.”  
“Well, as long as you’re happy.” Dakota said with a smile. “But don’t think im not going to tease you about this around Dad and Papa.”  
“P-please don’t.” Avery said, sitting up quickly and giving a pleading look towards his sister. “I.. I don’t know what they’re going to think…”  
“Avery, our whole family is some form of gay, I don’t think they’ll care if you’re bi.” Dakota rolled her eyes a bit.  
“No… about me being polyam. Please don’t tell them…”  
“We have some of the most supportive parents in the world and I doubt they’d react badly, but I won’t tell them until you’re ready. I swear in the Styx.” Avery relaxed visibly, a look of relief overtaking his face.  
“Thanks for coming through for once.” He mumbled quietly.

“Papa!” Dakota said happily, rushing towards the son if Hades. The horn for dinner had sounded and so her and Avery had left their spot near the lake with their partners to head to dinner. As they were walking, they saw their parents walking towards dinner and bid their partners goodbye.  
Nico turned at the sound if his usual title and smiled softly when he saw his daughter, only for her to collide with him in a hug, causing him to wince but he lightly hugged her back.  
“careful… I’m kinda beat up right now…” Nico mumbled as she pulled away, but he smiled down at her, pushing her hair from her face..  
“What happened?” She asked nervously, looking up at him.  
“I’ll be fine.” He assured her, looking over at Avery. “I just challenged some Ares kids to a four against one. I was overconfident.”  
“That doesn’t sound like you at all.” Avery protested. “That’s…that’s reckless!”  
“I know…younger me did that type of thing all the time. It’s a wonder I’m even here. I got better when I met your dad.” Nico smiled over at Will softly.  
“Let’s hurry to dinner. There might be a capture the flag game after and we don’t want to miss it.” Will said, gently nudging them all towards the pavilion with his words. As they sat down to eat, the twins filled their parents in on the details of their quest. They didn’t leave out any detail, other than downplaying Dakota’s injuries when she almost died.  
“How’s Hazel and Frank?” Nico asked. “And Layla and Michael?”  
“Layla is Landon now, but they’re all doing fine.” Dakota smiled gently before continuing the story without hesitation.  
“Wait, hold on.” Will and Nico interrupted at the same time.  
“Layla is Landon? What does that even mean?” Nico asked, half confused, glancing at Will with a confused look then back at the twins .  
“He’s transgender.” Dakota said. “He goes by Landon now and uses he/him pronouns.”  
“Oh…ok. That makes sense.” Nico gestured for her and Avery to continue. Before they could continue, Chiron gathered everyone’s attention and announced the capture the flag match. Due to Dakota’s win last game, it was the Apollo cabin against the Hermes cabin. Apollo go paired up with Hephaestus, Ares, and Aphrodite. Hermes got paired up with Athena, demeter, and Dionysus, which left the smaller cabins with less people to pick their own teams.  
“We’re on the same team!” Dakota looked up and saw Vivi was running over with a smile  
“yay!” Dakota grinned. “Although, for the record, I would have totally kicked your ass if you were on the other team.”  
“Sure, you would.” Vivi said with an eye roll before pressing a soft kiss to the blonde’s cheek, causing Dakota to blush bright red as she looked away.  
“Are you two…” Will asked, gesturing between the two with a raised eyebrow, trailing off slightly.  
“Dating?” Nico finished, earning a hesitant nod from the two girls, who were now both bright red.  
“We should tell Chiron.” Will said, changing the subject.  
“Tell him what?” Dakota asked.  
“Capture the flag is mandatory, but after the things that’s happened to me, I’m not physically to participate.” Will said.  
“I’m not either.” Nico said. “But be careful. We’ll be watching from the sidelines.” Dakota nodded a bit and turned to go but she paused when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking back, Will was giving her a stern look.  
“Lets not have a repeat of last game. Don’t overuse your abilities. They’re not as strong as Papa’s is-not even close- and we don’t need you dying on us.” Dakota glanced back at Nico before nodding with a smile and hugged them both.  
“I won’t. I’ll be careful.” With that, she dashed off after Vivi and Avery in the direction of the forest.  
“Alright, Dakota! You and Victoria stick together, take the right and don’t split up. Avery, you stick with Kosumi and Asa, take the left, same thing.” Luciana called.  
“Justin, you and Charles will guard the flag. Rhys, you, and the archers will guard the sides. Remember not to injure anyone too badly with your arrows or long-range weapons, most of the archers are Apollo kids and you know we’re the ones who are going to clean up the mess. Archery wounds are not fun for anyone.” Luciana turned towards someone else.  
“Akira, you and Annemarie run as down the center as you can. Rowen, you and Miles man the river with the rest of the Ares cabin. Spread out along the length. Those moving, attempt to get the flag in any way that you can and remember who your teammates are.” Right as she finished speaking, the horn blew, and the game started. Sharing a look and a smile with Avery, the two took off in separate directions.


End file.
